Smith named winner of Lorraine’s Top Tales prize

Unpublished writer Katie Smith has won the inaugural Lorraine’s Top Tales prize, run by Hachette Children’s Books in conjunction with ITV.

The prize was for an unpublished story for five-seven year-olds and Smith, who was announced as the winner on the Lorraine TV show, was given the prize for her story The Pumpkin Project. Her book will be published in paperback by Hachette at a later date.

Two finalists, James Bishop and Heather Mottershead, will be offered editorial consultations with Anne McNeil, publishing director of Hodder Children’s Books.

The competition was judged by TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, musician and author Tom Fletcher, Nadiya Hussain, the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2015, and Hachette licensing director Katie Price after it was announced in February.

Kelly said: “It was really difficult to choose a winner as the standard of writing was so high but all the judges felt that Katie Smith's story stood out. It's a fantastic story - really imaginative and I can't wait to see the finished book.”

Picture: Winner Katie Smith (centre) with prize judges Katie Price and Tom Fletcher.